Under paid tax 2008-9 PAYE

flyinglion

Hi,

Can anyone help? I received a tax demand for 2008-9 tax yer for approx £450 and was informed through a P800 letter in Oct 2010. I recently read about ESC A19 and called up HMI yesterday and tried to present my case. I said I've been an employee on PAYE throughout 2008-9 and when I changed employer in August 2008 HMI must've been informed of this as I was paying tax throughout under PAYE. I added I handed in the employer section of my P45 to my new work place. HMI asked me to check the date the P45 paperwork was sent by my employer as they have no record of receiving this.

I said I felt aggreived by this tax demand as I've been on PAYE since I started full time employment since 2000. As far as I'm concerned I have been paying tax and I've done nothing wrong. They reiterated they need to know when the P45 was sent to progress with the claim.

I was told today by my current employer that they did not have a record of my P45 and i was down as wk 1 month 1 when I joined. However I remember giving it to them and still have my P45 with the employer section torn off.

Where do I now stand with my ESC A19 claim? They informed me over 12months after the underpaid tax year and I was under the PAYE scheme through 2008-9.

Mikeyorks

flyinglion wrote: »

Where do I now stand with my ESC A19 claim? .

You don't - I'm afraid.

They informed me over 12months after the underpaid tax year

..... that's irrelevant. As the timeframe relates to 'not acting on information received'. They have had no information to act upon .... and your employer has confirmed that.

You can attempt to get HMRC to switch the liability to the employer on the basis they've been negligent (see the 'What Happens Next' leaflet with your P800)? But - unless the employer is known to HMRC because of systematic problems - it's unlikely to succeed. And you need to contemplate whether such action will alienate your employer to your overall disadvantage.

flyinglion

Thanks for the reply.

Payroll have got back to me and confirm there was an error following the change of tax codes during 2008-09 from 543 to 603. I was put on 543L month 1 in August 2008 but when the tax allowances changed in Sept, a mass update to the payroll system removed the month 1 indicator which resulted in a discrepancy. Payroll have admitted that this was their fault and have offered to write to the tax office for me. However not sure they realise implications of doing this.

They still maintain they did not receive a P45.

Does this change anything?

Pennywise

Realistically, the best you're going to get is to get an "interest free loan" from your employer so you can pay HMRC and then repay the loan over a year or two back to your employer.

The thing is that you didn't pay enough tax at the time. Regardless of who's fault it was, that's the fact of the matter - you had money in your pocket that wasn't yours.

This isn't an HMRC problem so there's no reason for them to grant ESC A19. OK, it's an employer fault, but they didn't benefit from it, so you can't expect them to pay your tax. Like I say, a loan from your employer is probably the best you'll get.

antrobus

Pennywise wrote: »

This isn't an HMRC problem so there's no reason for them to grant ESC A19. OK, it's an employer fault, but they didn't benefit from it, so you can't expect them to pay your tax. Like I say, a loan from your employer is probably the best you'll get.

Agreed.

It's your employer who got the tax wrong. HMRC is now simply asking for the correct amount due to be paid. Basically you pay HMRC the underpaid tax and then you can argue your case with your employer as best you can.

System

flyinglion wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

Payroll have got back to me and confirm there was an error following the change of tax codes during 2008-09 from 543 to 603. I was put on 543L month 1 in August 2008 but when the tax allowances changed in Sept, a mass update to the payroll system removed the month 1 indicator which resulted in a discrepancy. Payroll have admitted that this was their fault and have offered to write to the tax office for me. However not sure they realise implications of doing this.

They still maintain they did not receive a P45.

Does this change anything?

If they had been operating a 543L month 1 code and then changed it to 603L cumulative without using your P45 details then you would possibly have received a significant refund of tax in your pay the first time that code was operated. Did you not notice and query the pay that month? Check your payslips to see if that is what happened.

flyinglion

Thank you - I will check. It was early into starting my new job and with contributory pension deductions I wasn't sure what my net salary should be.

Mikeyorks

Post #6 is quite correct.

The only problem is the whole world had been told to expect a refund in Sept. As the extra £600 personal allowance, applied as part of the grovelling after the untidy 10% tax rate abolition, was applied then.

For most that should have just equalled (£600 x 6/12 @ 20%) £60. And I think yours will have been considerably more as - in effect - your whole PA was re-started.

An unfortunate co-incidence. But I doubt HMRC will accept 'Gordon Brown was to blame'!